Erik Gustafsson | Defenseman

Latest News

Recent News

Erik Gustafsson is interested in returning to Philadelphia, but the feeling isn't mutual.

The Flyers simply don't have a roster spot available for him at this time, especially after they signed Yevgeni Medvedev to a one-year, $3 million contract. Gustafsson had six goals and 22 points in 56 KHL contests in 2014-15. May 20 - 4:32 PM

Flyers GM Ron Hextall hasn't heard from Gustafsson's agent or the player yet, so nothing's official. Gustafsson was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer. He had two goals and 10 points in 31 games in 2013-14. Fri, May 16, 2014 12:40:00 PM

Erik Gustafsson found the back of the net in Philadelphia's 5-2 win against the New York Rangers.

Gustafsson was making his 2014 playoff debut after the Flyers decided to make Hal Gill a healthy scratch. Gustafsson logged 18:19 minutes and finished the contest with a plus-one rating. Wed, Apr 30, 2014 10:11:00 AM

Flyers GM Ron Hextall hasn't heard from Gustafsson's agent or the player yet, so nothing's official. Gustafsson was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer. He had two goals and 10 points in 31 games in 2013-14.

Gustafsson had two goals and 10 points in 31 games during the regular season. Flyers coach Craig Berube cited a desire to go with more speed as his reason for pulling Hal Gill and dressing Gustafsson. "I'm just going to have fun and enjoy it," said Gustafsson. "This is why you play hockey. This is the most exciting time of the year. I remember two years ago (in the playoffs), and I still remember it like it was yesterday."

Gustafsson missed action from Dec. 21 until January 10 with a knee injury but has been a healthy scratch ever since until Saturday's 6-1 loss to Boston. He played 20:37 minutes against the Bruins with one blocked shot. He has two goals and seven points in 21 games but really does not do a lot more than that fantasy-wise in traditional pools as he has a plus-four rating and two penalty minutes.

That doesn't necessarily mean that Gustafsson will be used though. The Flyers might not have a spot for him in their lineup at the moment. He might have to wait until Philadelphia's winning streak is over before he gets a chance to return.

Erik Gustafsson notched a goal for Philadelphia, but it came up way short in its 5-2 loss to Detroit on Saturday night

Coach Craig Berube was quoted recently as saying he didn't know when the young defenseman would get into a game, but he sure fooled us as Gustafsson was in there Saturday night. Perhaps this performance (he had an even outing, with four shots in 17:26) will keep him in the lineup. Tye McGinn scored the other goal for the Flyers. Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek had the assists.

The 24-year-old has been a healthy scratch in all five games so far. He played in 27 games and averaged more than 20 games last season. Flyers coach Craig Berube said he had no answer for when the defenseman would play.

"He would have to clear waivers," GM Paul Holmgren said. "That would be pretty risky. He's a young player that we really like." Philadelphia also has Kimmo Timonen, Mark Streit, Luke Schenn, Braydon Coburn, Andrej Meszaros, Nick Grossmann, Bruno Gervais and camp invitee Hal Gill aiming for spots in the starting lineup. A trade could be a possibility to open up a position for Gustafsson.

Depth Charts

Flyers owner Ed Snider clarified that while Flyers GM Ron Hextall will be patient with the team's young players, he still intends to contend in the short-term.

"The bottom line is, that patience was misinterpreted to mean that he was going to be patient with the team in and of itself," Snider said. "Which he's not. He's going to do everything in his power to produce a winner as soon as possible, which means it could be trades, it could be coaching, it could be all kinds of things." Philadelphia has missed the playoffs in two of its last three years. It had a 33-31-18 record in 2014-15, which led to the firing of head coach Craig Berube.

After signing a new six-year contract with the Flyers earlier this week, Sean Couturier said he doesn't want to change his style of play, but he would like to produce more offensively.

"I'm really looking forward to coming to camp and trying to take another step forward," he said. "I'm not going to change as a player or as a person. I'm going to be the same type of player and just try to definitely produce a little more offensively." The 22-year-old scored 15 goals and 37 points in 82 games with the Flyers last season.

After missing the first three months of the 2014-15 seasons recovering from surgery on his left pectoralis muscle, White joined the Flyers at the end of January and had a career season. He set new offensive highs with six goals and 12 points over 34 games, White also recorded 34 PIMs while averaging 11:34 ice time per game.

Nothing has changed with the Flyers’ efforts to trade Vincent Lecavalier.

"We’re status quo," general manager Ron Hextall said. "We’re planning on going into the season with Vinny and see what happens. Do I get a call with interest? I don’t know. At this point, we’re status quo." Lecavalier has three years left on a five-year, $22 million contract. He had eight goals and 20 points in 57 games last year.

Cousins was credited with a shot on goal and a hit. "Fast game out there tonight and he looked like he had the pace for it," Flyers coach Craig Berube said of Cousins. "Competitive guy. Strong on the puck. He played a real solid game." Cousins has 21 goals and 55 points in 60 AHL games this season.

Schenn will still be a restricted free agent next summer, so it's not imperative that the Flyers sign him in the near future. That being said, the question was raised after Philadelphia handed Sean Couturier a six-year, $25.98 million contract. Schenn still has a lot to prove, so determining fair value for him on a long-term deal would be challenging. He had 18 goals and 47 points in 82 contests last season.

R.J. Umberger will undergo surgery on his hip and abdominal muscles and miss the rest of the season.

Well, at least we now know why Umberger was laboring and had not scored in his last 18 games. He had nine goals this season with six assists. "I think the biggest thing that’s bothered me is just that I feel like I’ve let Ron Hextall down," Umberger said on Tuesday. "He believed in me, bringing me here, and I feel I haven’t been the player he needs." He will get a chance to redeem himself next season.

The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Jakub Voracek to an eight-year, $66 million contract.

That's a $8.25 million annual cap hit, although it won't kick in until 2016-17 as Voracek still has a season left on his existing four-year, $17 million deal. He had 81 points in 82 contests last season, so as long as he maintains that high level of play, that high cap hit will look justified. That's not a terrible bet for Philadelphia to make and we don't really find fault with the Flyers locking up one of the league's top forwards for the long haul.

Simmonds' campaign ended on March 25 due to a fractured bone. He finished the campaign with 28 markers and feels like he would have reached the 30-goal milestone if not for the injury. He should be fine for the 2015-16 campaign.

Despite not making many moves this off-season, the Philadelphia Flyers look like they are better on paper.

Philadelphia parted ways with forward Zac Rinaldo, defenseman Nicklas Grossman and goaltender Ray Emery and they brought in Sam Gagner, Evgeni Medvedev and Michal Neuvirth. Gagner is a clear upgrade over an energy player like Rinaldo, and it would appear that Neuvirth is also an upgrade over Emery but the question comes on defense. Medvedev is a 32-year-old KHL veteran, who has no NHL experience and is one of eight defenders on the roster with a one-way contract.

Mark Streit picked up three assists in Tuesday's 5-4 win over the Islanders.

Streit now has points in consecutive games, and three of his last four. He's totaled six assists during that span as well. Streit has quietly put together his best season since 2008-09 with the Islanders, posting nine goals and 51 points in 79 games this season.

Andrew MacDonald is out for the rest of the season after fracturing his right hand in 4-1 win over Chicago on Wednesday.

It was first reported as a upper-body injury but Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia reported that it was a fractured right hand. MacDonald has appeared in 58 of 75 games for the Flyers, recording two goals and 10 assists for 12 points while averaging exactly 20 minutes of ice-time per-game.

That's a significant risk for Philadelphia given that the team wasn't exactly swimming in cap space to begin with. Medvedev, 32, has never played professionally in North America. He might end up being a solid defensive defenseman at the NHL level, but we don't expect him to do much offensively.

Michael Del Zotto has agreed to a two-year, $7.75 million contract with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Del Zotto and the Flyers have avoided an arbitration hearing that was scheduled for July 21. He had 10 goals and 32 points in 64 contests last season. It wouldn't be shocking to us if he reaches the 40-point mark next season, but at the same time he obviously isn't far removed from his disastrous 2013-14 campaign, so he's still a bit of a risk.

Radko Gudas (knee) isn't expected to return before the end of the 2014-15 campaign.

Gudas was acquired by the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday as part of the Braydon Coburn trade. He's a physical, defensive defenseman that's also capable of chipping in offensively and should be a significant part of Philadelphia's blueline next season.

Brandon Manning has signed a one-year, $625,000 contract extension for the 2015-16 campaign.

The big news here is that it's a one-way contract. That doesn't necessarily guarantee that he'll spend the full 2015-16 campaign with Philadelphia, but it signals that the Flyers have every intention of keeping him on their roster next season. The 24-year-old had 43 points and 150 penalty minutes in 58 AHL contests and another three points and seven penalty minutes in 10 games with the Flyers. He's might have some fantasy value in standard leagues next season. That said, our incredibly preliminary assessment is that he'll be someone that will be worth keeping an eye on during training camp and the early portion of the campaign, but not taking in standard league drafts.

Steve Mason led the NHL in five-on-five save percentage among goalies with at least 1,000 minutes last year.

In 51 games, Mason posted a .943 save percentage. However, a .846 save percentage while shorthanded did him no favors. Mason had a strong season with the Flyers, finishing with a 2.25 goals-against average and .928 save percentage. The five-on-five metric is a good way to measure a goalie’s ability, thus making us stronger believers in Mason moving forward, despite the 18-18-11 record.

The Flyers have signed goaltender Michal Neuvirth for two-years and $3.25 million.

Neuvirth will get $1.5 million in 2015-16 and $1.75 million the following campaign. This is a nice signing for the Flyers as Neuvirth will be a more than an adequate replacement for last season's backup Ray Emery. Look for Neuvirth to play in 25 games behind starter Steve Mason.